This qualitative study used a phenomenological approach to understand the experience of six therapists who had been threatened with harm or attacked by a client or a relative of a client in an outpatient setting. Semi-structured interviews were employed to collect data which were then analyzed using thematic coding. While some of the results of this study are consistent with existing literature on attacks on clinicians in acute inpatient settings, many of the study findings suggest that the experiences of therapists working in an outpatient setting who are threatened by a client or a relative of client are unique to that setting. Clinical implications are discussed. / Master of Science

The most common school-based interventions to prevent victimization from bullying use disciplinary methods and increase playground supervision. While enforcement approaches can prevent bullying, the effects are often short term and may lead to undesirable side effects. Thus, it seems a positive approach to increase prosocial behavior and prevent victimization is needed. This study evaluated the Actively Caring for People (AC4P) approach in four Southwest Virginia middle schools. Sixth and seventh grade students from two schools (n=209) participated in a five-week prosocial-focused curriculum, while 194 students served in the control group. All participants completed pre and post-test measures on their prosocial behavior performed and received, aggressive victimization and aggression performed, as well as bullying victimization and bullying performed to others. Linear regression and binary logistic regression were used to assess the impact of the Intervention. Follow-up moderator analyses were performed to assess the impact of Intervention Fidelity, Classroom Climate, Coaches' Entity Prosocial Mindset, and Role Model Perceptions. No intervention effects were observed and no moderators of the intervention were significant. Implications, limitations, and future directions are discussed. / Master of Science

This dissertation explores the lived experiences of workers who are involuntarily socially isolated in their work-places through the actions of one or more colleagues. This hermeneutic phenomenological inquiry is called by the question, "What is the lived experience of other-imposed social isolation in the work-place?" This study also explores the ways these targeted workers are lost and forgotten, by themselves and others, for the periods of time they remain in their socially isolating work-places. The tradition of hermeneutic phenomenology grounds this inquiry, guided primarily by the works of Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Martin Buber, and to lesser and varying degrees by David Abram, Hans-George Gadamer, Edmond Husserl, David Michael Levin, Emmanual Levinas, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. Max van Manen's six methodological guidelines serve as the framework for the research activities that comprise this study. From conversations with, and written reflections from, eight work-place professionals, this study reveals what it is like to experience other-imposed, work-place social isolation. Through hermeneutic phenomenological exploration, the stories of these eight workers reveal lived experience along three primary themes. First, other-imposed social isolation is abusive power and control that is comprised of shameful, indecent acts. Second, the targets of involuntary social isolation experience relentless, wounding trauma. Third, while remaining in their socially isolating work-places, and sometimes for years after leaving, targeted workers bear the burdened weight of crushing grief. The study suggests a need to expose antiquated, yet accepted, work-place mores, that serve as unconscious barriers to work-place respect and dignity. Further, the study reveals that conscious, and conscientious, awareness and attention to abusive work-place social isolation are the responsibility of each and every work-place citizen. Finally, the study recommends meaningful citizen choices -- such as refusing silence; standing alone, if necessary; and inviting work-place community attention -- to engage with others where workers' truths and dignity are at stake. / Ph. D.

Previous research shows that consuming violent media can lead to increased aggression in thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Several other factors also contribute to such behaviors but have not been thoroughly studied including implicit beliefs about aggression in relation to media content. This two-part study consists of (1) an exploratory iterated principal-factor method to create an implicit belief measure about consuming violent media in conjunction with correlational analyses and (2) between subjects hierarchical linear regression models to determine what effects implicit beliefs have on subsequent aggression after participants view either a violent of nonviolent video, while controlling for violent media consumption and trait aggression, and accounting for desensitization. The first study successfully indicates which characteristics could be sued to define the implicit belief measure. The second study indicates that implicit beliefs about consuming violent media can affect aggressive outcomes moderated through desensitization and biological sex. The present study supports the assertion that implicit beliefs can affect aggressive outcomes but contradicts originally hypotheses.

The purpose of the current study was to examine the mediating role of anger proneness in explaining the relationship between masculine gender role stress (MGRS) and aggression. Additionally, the moderating effect of anger proneness was also examined. Both physical and verbal forms of aggression were examined in the current model. Participants were 163 male undergraduate students. The criteria proposed by Baron and Kenny (1986) and Holmbeck (1997, 2002) were followed to test for mediational and moderational effects. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted. Results indicate that anger proneness does mediate the relationship between MGRS and aggression, particularly physical aggression. Tests for moderated effects were not supported. The clinical and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed. / Master of Science

The purpose of this multiple case study was to gather information about female aggression in situationally violent relationship. The interviews and surveys of four African-American couples were coded and analyzed to gather information about the impact of female aggression on the relationship, the contextual factors surrounding female aggression, and the motivations for female aggression. The results indicated that female aggression impacts the couple relationship in several ways. First, female aggression is typically minimized by both partners. Another impact on the relationship is that it leads to further escalation of aggression, as well as leading the couple to question their commitment to each other. Female aggression also appeared to become part of the couples struggle for power. The study also identified substance abuse and a family history of abuse as two of the contextual factors present with female aggression. The motives for female aggression that were identified included frustration, wanting control over the relationship, abandonment and retribution. One couple identified self-defense as a motivation for female aggression. Implications for future research and for clinical practice are offered. / Master of Science

Aggression linked to peer-based social rejection is a damaging and highly prevalent problem, especially during adolescence when peer relationships are particularly important. Because adolescence is a sensitive period for neural plasticity, identifying neural mechanisms that bias youth towards perpetrating aggression before habitual antisocial tendencies are instantiated may help develop novel interventions. Aggressive behavior is likely influenced by a complex cascade of neural responses that unfold across a social interaction, therefore methods that examine how neural network associations predict rejection-elicited aggression are needed. Progress towards this goal has been hindered by the limited availability of ecologically-valid fMRI-based social interaction tasks that delineate temporal stages within a social interaction, such as anticipation and receipt of peer feedback, and contemplating aggression. This study addresses these limitations by using a novel fMRI-based paradigm, the Virtual School and Aggression (VSA) task, to evoke rejection-elicited aggressive behavior in adolescents (N=34; 10-15 years). We demonstrate that engagement in the threat network while receiving rejecting feedback is predictive of subsequent aggressive behavior in adolescents. Lastly, we illustrate that engagement in the threat network while receiving nice feedback leads to inhibition in the cognitive control network while responding. These findings provide important targets to inform novel interventions for rejection-elicited aggression. / Psychology

Social media has become a popular way of connecting with people, but it has also led to an increase in cyber aggression. Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a condition that is characterized by retaliatory aggression, difficulty in interpersonal relationships, and high impulsivity. Those who endorse BPD symptoms experience unstable interpersonal relationships and struggle to maintain connections with others which can lead to problematic behaviors on social media like retaliatory aggression. Understanding the motivations behind those behaviors can help inform the experiences of the diagnosed population, mitigate problematic behaviors, and facilitate healthy social relationships. This study aims to explore the motivations that BPD symptom endorsers most identify with, such as self-protection, affiliation, and status, and the prevalence of retaliatory aggression on social media. The participants completed a self-report survey that measured their motivations, online revenge behaviors, and BPD symptom endorsement. Retaliatory aggression was also positively related to the status motivation. Results indicated self-protection had a moderating effect on the relationship between borderline symptom endorsement and retaliatory aggression. The findings of this study will help to strengthen existing literature about BPD features of impulsivity and reactivity and inform treatment and therapeutic methods by identifying the motivation behind retaliation for those who exhibit symptoms of BPD. It will also have clinical implications for how social media use is advised and addressed. Future research should seek to identify what other motivations are attributed to retaliatory aggression and expand the population to include more genders and cultures.

The past 20 years have seen a growing interest amongst researchers into indirect forms of aggression and bullying. The evidence suggests that covert forms of aggression are largely used by adolescent girls as a means of inflicting harm on another and that the effects of such interactions can be detrimental to the individual's psychological and emotional well-being. This study aims to explore the social experiences of four adolescent girls, with particular reference to indirect aggression practices that they may have encountered. Data was collected in the form of unstructured interviews, which were conducted with each participant separately. Prominent themes were then identified and explored by the researcher. This was done from a systemic epistemological stance within the post-modern paradigm. A qualitative methodological design was followed allowing for the personal experiences and meaning attributions of each participant to come to the fore. The study's results were presented in the form of descriptive text with particular reference to the systemic processes that came to the fore. Overall, the study explicated the unique experiences of four adolescent girls with indirect aggression and how these experiences are interwoven with systemic processes that take place in social groups. / Psychology / M. A. (Clinical Psychology)

Thesis (LLD (Public Law))—University of Stellenbosch, 2008. / Aggression is regarded as one of the core crimes under customary international law, but the definition of aggression is still contentious. At present there is no international instrument that provides for effective individual criminal liability for the crime of aggression. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) provides for the inclusion of the crime of aggression within the court’s jurisdiction, but the Statute needs to be amended to include a definition of aggression and conditions for the exercise of jurisdiction by the ICC. This dissertation seeks to identify the elements of the international crime of aggression, for purposes of individual criminal liability. It is submitted that the creation of the ICC provides the international community with an historic opportunity to establish effective jurisdiction over the crime of aggression.